~ ~ WANDERING IN A RUNNING WORLD ~~

RELENTLESS SHALANE WINS IN NEW YORK CITY

Like many a Boston Marathon finisher, Shalane Flanaganwalked downstairs with a tender tred after the race. The Marblehead, Massachusetts native had attacked the old course with a willful intention on Patriot’s Day 2014, convinced that an unrelenting pace from the start would discourage her opponents and set her up for victory. But now, after the savage pace she set on the rolling hills from Hopkinton to Heartbreak Hill in Newton had shredded her quads, the walk downstairs from the VIP room of the House of Blues to the main stage for that night’s award ceremony was proving to be yet another painful journey.

Once on stage, the top ten women were presented to the boisterous crowd. Shalane was number seven. Then, as the champion (now confirmed drug cheat) Rita Jeptoo of Kenya basked in the spotlight and applause gowned up like a beauty pageant contestant, Shalane stood behind her still unrelenting, still feisty and unbowed.

“You’re welcome,” Shalane said tartly from behind as I introduced Jeptoo to the crowd. We heard her. It was an acknowledgment that Flanagan knew exactly what role she had played in the fastest Boston Marathon in history, her own 2:22:02 time in seventh being the fastest ever by an American in Boston.

Shalane Flanagan leading the charge in Boston 2014

The plan for Boston 2014 had been set months in advance by Shalane and her Bowerman Track Club coach Jerry Schumacher. And to a degree, it had worked, delivering the 33-year-old to the Boylston Street finish line in exactly the time she was trying to achieve. Unfortunately, it was nearly four minutes behind the drug queen, and two minutes off that which Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia fashioned in second place – 2:19:59.

“When I first heard of Jeptoo (drug bust),” remembered Shalane, “I was angry. But then I was relieved. I could do that two minutes.”

And she nearly did, six months later in Berlin, again gunning for time rather than place. This time it was Deena Kastor‘s American record 2:19:36 from London 2006.

Again Shalane set off at an unrelenting gallop, unconcerned with her competition. Again she ran to the end of her tether. Again she ran out of fuel before she ran out of distance. But this time she had come closer, fading only in the final 2 km, finishing third in 2:21:14, second best marathon time ever by an American woman (bettered in Chicago 2017 by Jordan Hasay’s third-place 2:20:57).

“If I’d run more conservatively, maybe low 2:20, I could’ve won,” she suggested. “But I was going for the American record.”

She wouldn’t relent. Instead, she kept whittling down the distance, learning as she went, honing her craft as she had seen her personal best fall from 2:25:38 to 2:21:14 in just one year. And just because East Africa is full of marathon talent, let’s not forget how promising Shalane’s own journey looked from the very start.

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Father Steve (left) pushes Shalane in a race in Boulder, Colorado next to Rich Castro and son Antonio (picture from Rich Castro)

We trace Shalane’s willfulness back to the early days in Boulder, Colorado, where she was born to a couple of international class runners. Her dad Steve Flanagan is often referred to as a 2:18 marathoner but was at his best as a cross-country runner, a tough mudder who made the USA World Cross Country team training with Frank Shorter and the fabled Colorado Track Club. Her mom Cheryl Bridges (now Treworgy) was a five-time cross-country team member herself, who broke the women’s marathon world record in 1971, becoming the first woman ever under 2:50.

When their union dissolved, Steve moved to Marblehead, the secluded seaside town north of Boston. There, along with new step-mother Monica, Shalane (and her sister Maggie) found a nurturing community that protected her and took pride in her accomplishments.

The competitive fire was evident early. She was the best high school cross country runner in the nation her senior year at Marblehead High. In the Footlocker Regionals in New York, Shalane attacked the snowy Van Cortlandt Park course, jumping out to a big lead. But she hit the wall and collapsed hundreds of meters before the finish, and never made it to the national final.

In 2001, at the NCAA Cross Country Championships at Furman University, Shalane was running as a sophomore for the Tar Heels of North Carolina. Again, as one of the pre-race favorites, she went all-in early, opened a sizeable lead, only to red-line after mile two. In the throes of oxygen-debt, she came to a full stop, before finishing well back in the pack.

“I felt like I had to dictate the race and dictate my future,” she said afterward.

No, she wouldn’t relent, but she proved the capacity to learn, winning the next two NCAA cross country titles, the first in Tar Heel history. It’s also where she met her husband Steve.

As a pro she won national titles, set records even stood on the Olympic podium in 2008 in the 10,000 meters. But unlike her pal Meb Keflezighi, she couldn’t get over the hump and onto the top step in a major marathon, though she began with a promising second place in her debut in New York in 2010.

“I tried running with them (East Africans), and it just didn’t feel right,” she concluded. So she reverted to her front-running instincts, like in Boston and Berlin 2014. But that just ended with her serving as an unofficial pacer. Again, though disappointed, she didn’t relent.

Though she hasn’t lived in the Boston area since 2000, Shalane still self-identifies as a Boston girl, part of the lineage that goes back to the early years of the Boston Marathon, where 1935 & `45 champion old John Kelley inspired 1957 winner Young John Kelley, who taught and coached 1968 champ Amby Burfoot who roomed in college with four-time olive wreath wearer Bill Rodgers, who inspired 1982 champ Al Salazar and two-timer Joanie Benoit Samuelson.

But that’s where the New England connection ended, until Shalane, who has reconnected to that heritage with an embrace as warm as a chilled New England spring morning requires.

For those not from New England, it’s hard to explain. But when grandfathers hold grandchildren on their shoulders at the same place on the old course where their grandfathers once held them, it seeps into your bones. Other places in the U.S. have regional pride, but New England’s six states stand as something different, a true original union defined by grit and history.

New Englanders don’t relent. They are a determined people, determined not to be taken advantage of by a faraway king trying to tax them without representation, determined not to lose hope when their baseball team goes 86 years without a World Series title, determined not to lose cheer when winter’s bony hand just won’t let go, or when no American wins its great marathon in over three decades.

For a native New Englander, pride runs deep, and hope always lives. They won’t relent. And one day that unrelenting quality may yet bring Shalane home first. Wait and see.

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NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 5, 2017: Shalane wins the Big One in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Today, it happened in New York City, as now 36-year-old Shalane Flanagan bided her time through a conservative opening 20 miles, then bested three-time defending champion Mary Keitany of Kenya on a misty, gray autumn day that will forever more be limned in gold.

It was Shalane’s first marathon since taking sixth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, as a lower back injury put her in the broadcast booth rather than on the starting line in Boston this spring.

Finally, the long wait for a major title is over. And though she spoke of possibly retiring if she won today in New York, the Shalane Flanagan career lesson is clear. Never Relent!

I’m no fan of Jeptoo, and her doping hurts the sport and others’ careers, but without her, Shalane still would not have won. I was a fan of Shalane’s run that day until seeing her snide remark to Jeptoo in the bar. I admire racing with guts and pushing an honest pace, but it’s ultimately who gets to the tape first. Mary Keitany could just as easily say “you’re welcome” to Shalane. Flanagan’s tone lacks grace, and while they don’t award medals for grace in this sport, you can count me among those who, while we have our doubts about NOP, take some measure of satisfaction with Galen’s run in Chicago – to an extent – more than Shalane’s in NYC.

Not wishing to turn a celebratory occasion into an unpleasant debate, it is prudent to be as concise, respectful, & tactful- and yes, “graceful”- in replying to the above comment as possible…
First- do your homework before before issuing derogatory admonitions to others. Most runners cannot even remotely fathom the frustration of having trained and sacrificed their entire career to be the best in the world- NOT succumbing to the constant pressure for that undeniable 2% advantage obtainable by doping- only to be beaten repeatedly by such cheaters. MAYBE the drug police catch them… maybe not; but regardless, there’s always a lag. It took almost 10 years for Shalane’s 2008 Beijing 10,000 m. Bronze to be upgraded to Silver. And as Shalane herself commented- what about the fourth place competitor- who was completely denied her “podium moment”? Nobody even knows who she was.
So when someone speaks out against this undeniable BLIGHT ON THE SPORT- track and field fans and officials should celebrate & support this effort. Too many are content to quietly accept… and hence, are PART OF THE PROBLEM!
A review of Shalane’s comments on this matter will show them to be measured- and more importantly, ACCURATE. So perhaps you don’t approve of the tone? Again- you haven’t walked in her shoes, and had your life’s work & passion negatively impacted… over and over- by cowardly cheaters- condoned by hapless officials.
Take a look in the mirror before you make “graceless” accusations…
Did you miss the signature line in Tony Reavis’ article above- Never Relent!
Mr Reavis HAS done his homework, personally knows Shalane and her family, and possesses an incomparable knowledge of the sport.
Regarding Rupp & Hasay’s recent “achievements”- I would again recommend doing your homework.
Bottom line- an athlete MUST take responsibility for whom they associate with… and are coached by.
As Shalane herself recently commented (paraphrase)- “I don’t know what to think of those times…”
To use a legal metaphor- “the jury is still out”; and we’ll leave it at that… for now.
Go Shalane! (Never Relent!)